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One of my goals in putting together the SportsMinded blog was to encourage an exchange of experiences and ideas between athletes. I appreciate the comments people have been posting and will do my best to, on occasion, reply to what you have written. So here goes…

In response to my post on visualization, Seaducer wrote:

And I think the main reason that elite athletes use it more than recreational athletes is because, well, the rest of us have a life and just can't spend all the time on sport the way a pro can.

Let me first acknowledge that Seaducer is a bit of a skeptic when it comes to the power of visualization. I believe his exact word are:

I see visualization pretty much the same way I look at superstitions…think it is just something to put you into a "winning" state of mind, like wearing the same socks, or tapping your bat on the same spot every time up. Or putting a penny in your bar tape for good luck.

It’s not that I disagree with him. I find the idea of wearing the same socks over and over again pretty ridiculous (and disgusting – don’t they get dirty?). And if I’m taping anything to the handlebars of my bike it’s certainly not going to be 1 cent. Gel maybe, but a penny? How helpful is a penny when you’re bonking and in desperate need of carbs?

But visualization the same as superstition…. Come on now. The American Heritage® Dictionary defines superstition as

An irrational belief that an object, action, or circumstance not logically related to a course of events influences its outcome.

There’s nothing irrational about visualization, it is related to a course of events and does influence its outcome. Here’s how.

Mental Imagery is a cognitive activity that mimics perceptual, motor and certain emotional experiences of the brain. Recent brain imaging studies suggest that certain brain structures (prefrontal areas, supplementary motor areas, and cerebellum for you brainiac types) show a pattern of neural activity during imagery that resembles the activity elicited by actual motor performance. Studies have shown that imagery is “functionally equivalent to physical practice” with respect to the neural pathways in the brain. In other words, as far as the brain is concerned, mental imagery and physical practice are definitely related. So much for superstition.


As for Seaducer’s notion that “the rest of us” can’t afford to spend time on visualization, I would suggest that we can’t afford not to.

Let’s take triathlon as an example. Most triathletes I know have very limited means of practicing their transitions – sure you can always do a brick workout. But let’s face it, it’s not the same. Go for a bike ride, return home, drop off the bike, get a drink of cold water, check your email, take a pee, put on running shoes, off you go. Not quite the same as race conditions. And when was the last time – short of your last race – that you actually tried to get out of your wetsuit as quickly as possible?

But with visualization, you can go through the whole routine step by step. And you can do it anytime and anywhere. So in a period of about a minute, you can practice T1 and T2 in a way that will prepare you for the actual thing. You can cognitively map-out what you are going to do on race day and you can do it perfectly (not quite so easy to do in real life). You can rehearse it again and again in the period of a minute or two. You can over-rehearse it to the point that you no longer have to think about it. And that’s just the point. We can use visualization – we see the transition in our mind’s eye – so that our behaviors become automatic and we don’t have to think about them. For triathlon, as with many other sports, thinking can really get in the way -- especially in the transition zone. You want your transitions to be smooth and fluid, and the key to this is to not think too much and above all to not panic.


In fact, in their book “Swim Bike Run” Hobson, Campbell and Vickers recommend using visualization not just as a means of mental practice prior to competition but also during a triathlon.

As you near the end of your swim, slightly increase your kick tempo … Also, visualize your bike location and mentally rehearse the first transition.

So there you have it. I’d tell any of the athletes that I work with to give visualization a try. So should you. Most likely it will work for you. Maybe not. But it doesn’t cost anything to try. And it’s easier than trying to find a place in your tri shorts for you lucky rabbit's foot.




Resources:

Hall, C.R. (2001) “Imagery in Sport and Behavior”, In R.N. Singer, H.A. Hausenblas and C.M. Janelle (eds), Handbook of Sport Psychology (2nd edition), New York: John Wiley.

Hobson, W., Campbell, C. & Vickers, M. (2001). “Swim, Bike, Run”, Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.